


Curls in the Summer

by compo67



Series: Punzel Verse [5]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Break Up, Domestic Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Minor Violence, Misogyny, Other, Physical Abuse, Police, Protective Jensen, Timestamp, Verbal Abuse, property damage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-07-23
Packaged: 2018-02-10 03:35:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2009409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/compo67/pseuds/compo67
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At three in the morning, Jensen is woken up by a call from Rhonda. Jared stays behind, watching Jensen leave as quick as possible; he hopes Jensen can resolve the situation he's being called into. [Part of the Punzel Verse. Please read notes.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Curls in the Summer

**Author's Note:**

> READ THE TAGS. Seriously. Go read them. 
> 
> Then read my notes at the bottom when you're done. :)

Jensen's phone rings at three in the morning. "Do You Believe in Love" echoes from his nightstand; Jeff has changed everyone's ringtones to a Cher song to get the family ready for his next show. But Cher at this hour causes Jensen to wake up with a start. He knocks half of what's on his nightstand off onto the floor before finally reaching his phone.

Beside him, as he wrestles away from the twist of sheets, blankets, and Jared's legs, Jared grumbles that it better not be the mailman. He sits up when Jensen turns on his lamp. A light on at three in the morning is not a good sign.

In two minutes, Jensen is scrambling to pull on jeans and a shirt, grabbing his wallet from the floor, trying to remember where the fuck he put his keys.

"Punzel?" Jared turns his light on and starts to get out of bed, reaching for his robe. "Hey, what's going on?"

He'll take Santa Monica Boulevard down to Broadway to Third. That should be fastest.

At the doorway of their room, he looks back at Jared before turning to leave. The kids are asleep still; he hopes the sounds of him leaving don't wake them up. They've just reached that age where they're sleeping on their own, but all four adults are up for grabs to sleep with in the middle of the night. It's the start of the terrible twos, though Jensen doesn't hear many good things about threes either.

Maybe he'll take Magnolia down to Broadway instead.

"Rhonda," is all Jensen says. He has to go.

 

Not every place in Santa Monica is made for millionaires and wealthy families. There are apartment complexes that are listed as "reasonable." Of course, what's considered "reasonable" in Santa Monica, someone in Anaheim would laugh at; it's still an arm and a leg to rent in Santa Monica.

Everyone helped her move into this place six months ago, even the kids. Kaylee criticized the color scheme of the palatial one bedroom apartment, and took actions of her own to remedy it by scribbling pink crayon all over the living room. It took Misha and Jared half an hour of scrubbing to get it completely off; Jeff suggested that the couch go there.

It's an upgrade from Rhonda's living space in Anaheim. The neighbors are decent and the walls aren't paper thin. No one would let her rent one of the first floor units, so she's on the second floor, in a corner unit with her own balcony. Hauling up groceries isn't the most fun thing to do in the world, but it's a five floor building with limited elevator access, so everyone considers themselves lucky. Depending on what's going on in her life, Rhonda keeps the place somewhat neat. Shoes and bras have been known to materialize on the floor or on the couch. That's one of the things Jensen has learned about women his age--the first thing that gets taken off at the end of a work day is the bra. "Set 'em free," Rhonda is fond of saying wherever she's taking her bra off at.

This year, she's dyed her hair red and cut it short. In the summer, it curls.

Also this year, she met Julian.

Jensen tried to like him. He did. He gave the guy an honest shot. Beers were shared and games were watched but ultimately, he couldn't do it. Misha and Jared implied that maybe Jensen was too picky; Jeff flat out told him to knock off the jealous boyfriend routine and let the girl date who she wanted to date. Fine. So he eased off. At work, he didn't make any mention of the times when she would get quiet and stare off, or when she would answer her phone and her voice would drop and her body language would change entirely.

But he wants everyone to know that he called this and they were wrong. That's for later.

He doesn't want to think about what's happened so far tonight. However, he can't ignore it when it stares at him from underneath her left eye, purpling and tender.

"What the fuck is he doing here?!" Julian roars, tossing aside a box of his clothes. "You just had to fucking call your bull dog, didn't you? What? You can't handle your own fucking problems, bitch?" The place is destroyed. Jensen remembers Hailey helping Rhonda set up her Precious Moments collection on a shelf beside the television. Rhonda's grandmother gave one figurine to her for every birthday until she turned eighteen. Five of them are shattered. One of the kids' blankets, left here for when they visit, has been ripped in half. But more than anything, Jensen sees that the tank top she's wearing has been pulled, stretched out, and her bra strap is broken.

She begins to regret her phone call. She puts a hand to Jensen's chest and apologizes, saying that he should go, that she's so sorry for dragging him into this.

This isn't her. It isn't. This is her under this situation but it's not her.

And she didn't call him because she needs a man to save her. She called him because she needs a friend right now. Her friend happens to be six foot two and pissed.

"I want you to call 911," Jensen says to her, his hands on her arms, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible. At the mention of police, Julian storms over from the living room. Rhonda puts herself in front of Jensen.

"Do it," Julian spits, his face twisted and beet red. "You should've called the pigs a long time ago. Stupid bitch can't even handle her own shit."

"Shut he fuck up." Jensen's voice is louder than he intends it to be. He locks eye contact with Julian and refuses to break it, even though what he sees is disgusting. "Stay over there, in your pathetic corner, and shut your hole."

This is not how Jensen thought it would go down. He thought he'd have a little more time to settle things. He thought this whole thing would feel like forever. Instead, time snaps forward. Julian is three inches shorter, but he's a confrontational person; Jensen isn't. One punch to Jensen's right cheek and everything erupts.

Physical fights are not Jensen's thing. He swings and misses twice before his right fist collides with the underside of Julian's chin. One thing he has learned--if he's going to punch someone, it better count. He throws all of his weight into it, twisting the angle so that Julian's head turns sideways and forces him off balance. This isn't the time for words or cold stares. That's not the way this is unfolding. Julian crashes to the floor but he takes a cheap shot at Rhonda, purposefully egging Jensen on. It works. The second he sees Julian's leg poised to kick her in the stomach, Jensen sees red.

Sometime last week, one of the kids stuck a butterfly sticker on Jensen's phone and he hasn't peeled it off. He catches a glimpse of it when Rhonda takes his phone and starts calling 911.

Jensen returns a cheap shot with one of his own. He wore his steel-toe boots.

One solid throttle to the groin with his boot and Julian squeals like a pig. But being the asshole he is, as soon as he regains his breath, he doesn't stop running his mouth, even from his curled up form on the floor. He makes the mistake of believing that they are done here, that Rhonda and Jensen are going to let him walk away like nothing happened.

There's a packing tape roll on the counter two steps away.

Rhonda slaps a strip over Julian's mouth.

She stands up, staying out of his reach, and looks at Jensen. There aren't tears in her eyes; she's too pissed for that. And she's not slouching as she says her peace. She holds her head up high. "He hit me. So I told him to get out."

Strangers on the street like to ask Jensen how a bunch of men will raise two girls. Jared is fond of snapping back at them that they aren't raising girls. They're raising women. Misha has his own choice words, and Jeff just keeps pushing the stroller. Jensen prefers to remind these strangers that maybe they don't know what it's like to be a woman, that's a fair point. But they're not by themselves raising the kids; all three of them have strong, resourceful women around them to learn from.

This is what he hopes his kids learn. But this is also, in very selfish part of himself, what he hopes his kids never have to learn.

"You got a shiner to match mine," Rhonda murmurs, stuck in her own thoughts. "What are we gonna tell the kids?"

"You saved me from a bear."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep."

Just as Julian is starting to get up for what he thinks will be round two, heavy footsteps sound in the hallway. Three officers take thirty minutes to process what has happened. Statements are given, photographs are taken, and Julian is hauled away. Counseling options are given to Rhonda and it is suggested for Jensen to stay with her if she requests him to. Charges are pressed. One of the officers mentions a center, handing Rhonda a card and a pamphlet.

 

There's a long list of things that need to be done in the next few days. In the morning, Jensen will change her locks and she'll change her number, maybe start to look for a new place, and clean up. He'll take her out to breakfast but she'll insist on paying and in the end, they'll probably just split the check. She'll call her mom and he'll be next to her while she does. In the evening, if she wants to stay over at the house, she will be treated to three two year olds fighting for Auntie Rhonda's attention. If she wants to stay here, Jensen will sleep on the couch.

The couch is where they end up after Jensen texts Jared that he'll be staying over for the rest of the day. Jared texts back immediately, asking for a phone call and an update later on.

Side by side, they sit in silence for a few minutes.

She puts her left arm around him and rests her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you," is whispered.

Toddlers get into everything. There's raw macaroni in Jensen's pockets. He turns his phone over and takes Rhonda's right hand into his. He peels off the butterfly sticker and places it on her hand, smoothing it out, rubbing his thumb over it.

"Thank you for calling," is whispered back.

 

They fall asleep on the couch, his right hand threaded in her hair. It curls in the summer.

**Author's Note:**

> There's a difference between these tags in this Verse and these tags in a verse like It Takes. It Takes is sci-fi/dystopian whereas Punzel, with the exception of the mpreg, is closer to real life. What happens here happens every day to very real people. I just want to make sure I acknowledge that with y'all. 
> 
> This is a darker addition to Punzel for a variety of reasons. I wanted to do something realistic but it's difficult with these tropes. Punzel overall deals with difficult issues and I feel like we should explore some other issues in its other characters, especially with Rhonda. Second, I love the idea of writing this and challenging myself to create a character that isn't a victim. She's a survivor. I've seen so many fics approach this in very problematic ways. Dear god, I hope I handled this okay. Jensen isn't her hero. All the applause should go to Rhonda for calling him--not for him showing up. It's a big step to ask for help and I wanna make sure that I point that out. 
> 
> Heavy topics here. But I feel like it adds more dimension to the verse. It can't all be sunshine and rainbows, but you know that in the next few days after this fic, someone is going to offer Rhonda a chance to hold Bun-Bun. 
> 
> I'm also a big believer in support systems. I want to show Jensen and Jared as people who are part of those systems and not just people who rely on those systems. They're here for everyone else too. 
> 
> Thanks to M for help with this. 
> 
> I'm nervous about posting this y'all. I'm not sure why. :/ Once I get feedback from y'all, I'll see if I keep this around.
> 
> Also, this is here if anyone needs it: www.thehotline.org.


End file.
